Being an inpatient on the antepartum wing of the labor & delivery unit, I often see the gaggle of soon-to-be parents taking the tour. I’ve been here for 37 days, and I’ve never done the tour. (I did, however, tour the NICU). I imagine the labor & delivery tour here is something like this: “All
Author: kelly
Smashing through the 30 day mark, and the halfway point
Today marks 29 weeks and day 32 inpatient! I had a growth ultrasound yesterday, and the babies seem to be on a good trajectory. Last time, they were quite small measuring at 5th and 10th percentile. Yesterday, they were better at 9th and 20th percentile. Their pesky femurs are still lagging behind, but my doctors
28 weeks!
It is day 25 inpatient and I’m 28 weeks today! 28 weeks is a big preemie milestone. 🎉🎉 The past week has been relatively uneventful. Some things that happened: 1) I made Sam a woven cow. When I was making the pig, he said he wanted it. I told him the pig was for the
27 weeks!
It’s day 19, and I’m 27 weeks 1 day. That means I get to throw out this scary 26 weeker pamphlet! Here are some important updates! #1. I’ve started to document the strange combination of items the nurses use to try to keep the babies on the monitors. This is quite the imperfect system, and
How to entertain a 3-year-old at a hospital (and manage stomach aches)
People often ask “How is Sam doing with all of this?” He’s doing okay! We try to follow a routine, and he’s been here to visit every day. Some days are better than others. He’s had more stomach aches lately. I’m pretty sure it’s anxiety that he’s feeling in his tummy (but it doesn’t help
Liquid nitrogen, ice cream, and desk chairs
It’s day 11, and it’s also “switch day,” the day we switch to a new gestational week– we’re at 26 weeks, which means we can throw those scary 25-weeker NICU pamphlets away. I’m settling into life here. I like to imagine that I’m in a scifi story. It’s probably some kind of minimum security prison
A false alarm
We’d had a nice Saturday, with two visits from Erin and Sam, a visit from Sharon, nice weather, and plenty of time sitting outside by the ship canal, watching the boats go by. I was preparing for a nice and relaxing Saturday evening. We usually do my evening NST around 8pm, so I picked out
Day 4: RAGE
I think I’ve entered a new grieving stage, the stage of RAGE. The adjustment process of accepting that I’ll (hopefully) be here for a long time has been hard. I’m on day 4, of hopefully ~60-65. It feels like a long, long way to go. Meanwhile, small things make me feel trapped and frustrated. Things
Packing list, moving in, and the first day
Well, I have now been here for over 24 hours! The transition has been harder than I expected. I guess I figured that if I packed a bunch of things to do, and I keep working, it shouldn’t be that bad, maybe even relaxing. I think I’ll eventually get to that point, but I’m not
7 days until sentencing (bonus minivan review!)
Time is going by quickly now. I’m 23 weeks + 4 days, and I only have a week until I begin my hospital sentencing next Monday. One strange thing about this experience is when people ask me “when are you due?” It’s odd to be reminded that I’m actually due on Halloween (that’s October 31